Year in Review: Meet Banny, version 2.0. Bannister posted similar strikeout and walk rates in 2008 and 2009, but he wasn't plagued nearly as much by the long ball this past season. After serving up 1.43 round-trippers per nine innings in '08, he chopped that mark down to 0.88 HR/9 in 2009. Having posted a 5.03 FIP in 2008, Bannister went back to the drawing board during the offseason and emerged with a different pitching strategy. The former Mets prospect once tossed a high-80s, four-seam fastball nearly 60% of the time, but he threw the pitch less than 20% in 2009. In its place, Bannister called upon a mid-to-high-80s cutter and increased the usage of his mid-80s change-up. Both of those offerings posted positive run values, helping the previously fly-ball-centric pitcher generate ground-balls at a nearly-50% clip. And the result? A career-best 4.14 FIP.

The Year Ahead: Bannister will never be an ace, but the righty has proven to be extremely adaptable. He won't stubbornly adhere to the same pitch sequence or game plan if the opposition is teeing off. Nothing screams "fluke" in Bannister's profile, as his BABIP was just slightly north of .300. He induced swings on pitches outside of the strike zone about 26% of the time, a little above the Major League average. Bannister's 84% overall contact rate was the best mark of his big league career. The 29-year-old was torched by lefty batters in 2008 (.877 OPS), but with a cutter jutting in on southpaws and a change-up fading away, Bannister held lefties to a .680 mark in 2009. With more worm-burners and a pair of pitches to combat lefties, Bannister looks like a solid mid-rotation option. (David Golebiewski)

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